Our main goal in this chapter is to describe the basic processes and consequences
of explaining everyday events. Both attribution processes (i.e., How are
attributions made?) and attributional processes (i.e., What are the consequences
of particular attributions?) are examined. We propose that the attribution
process consists of three steps: event characterization, problem formulation,
and problem resolution. The attribution process is frequently carried out
quickly, spontaneously, with little effort, and sometimes without awareness.
All three steps may be influenced by a variety of personality-related variables
such as past history and experience, causal schemata, and self-esteem. Key
phenomena related to the attribution process include the hedonic bias, actor-observer
perspective biases, and attributional style differences. The attributional
process links specific attributions to a variety of consequences. Key attributional
effects include emotional reactions to success and failure, suggest expectancy
shifts, self-esteem shifts, emotional reactions to others, motivation, and
behavioral performance. These empirical and theoretical developments have
been especially employed in the understanding and modification of important
psychological events in both achievement (e.g., school) and interpersonal
(e.g., depression, loneliness, and shyness) settings.